Do we like them?Do we like Nikos Christodoulides?
Our score: 5 out of 10. A marriage-equality pledge and a Gaza aid push, set against a contested asylum freeze and a corruption row that is still open.
Nikos Christodoulides is the president of Cyprus, and his timing in 2026 was rotten. His country took over the EU's rotating presidency in January just as a secretly filmed video hit social media. Fair warning: we couldn't open a solid profile of his early career, so this one is mostly about his time in the top job.
The video, posted online on 8 January, appeared to show his then chief of staff Charalambos Charalambous and a former minister describing cash donations as a way around campaign finance laws. Those are allegations made in the video, not findings. Charalambous resigned and the First Lady stepped down from a social support body. Christodoulides said he would give no one the right to accuse him of corruption and told anyone with evidence to hand it to the authorities.
Then it got messier. In April the Israeli private intelligence firm Black Cube told Cyprus Mail it was behind the video, which undercut the government's early “hybrid attack” line. AKEL says the president stayed silent after that and asked whether the palace left itself open to blackmail. In July the investigator reported no criminal wrongdoing by those in the video, but the attorney-general extended his term to year's end to look into Black Cube's motives and clients.
On the harm check, the sharpest thing on his record is asylum. In April 2024 Cyprus halted processing of Syrian asylum claims. He told the German media group RND the country “can no longer cope with this flow of refugees” and demanded parts of Syria be classed as safe. UN bodies and advocates say Syria isn't yet safe for returns, while his government says it acts within EU law.
On LGBTQ+ issues the record is mixed rather than hostile. In his 2023 campaign he said same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage after civil partnerships. In February 2024 his deputy spokesman said the government wouldn't take the initiative alone, and rights group AcceptLGBT accused it of keeping conservative support. We found no campaigning against LGBTQ+ people from him, and nothing solid on his climate record either way.
The good stuff is real. He pushed the Amalthea maritime corridor to get aid from Cyprus to Gaza, working with the EU, the UAE and the US. In October 2025 he floated reviving it for rubble removal and reconstruction materials. Where you land on the wider politics of Gaza will differ, but moving aid is moving aid.